No. 23 Texas left speechless after meltdown loss to No. 12 Oklahoma State

AUSTIN – Adrian Phillips stared at his hands. For a moment, more than 90,000 people looked, too. But the football that should have been between those hands wasn’t there.

Somehow, the ball had traveled through them and ended up in the grasp of Oklahoma State wide receiver Tracy Moore, resulting in the touchdown that became the turning point in the 12th-ranked Cowboys’ 38-13 victory at Royal-Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

Phillips, Texas’ senior safety, couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

“Stuff like that doesn’t happen,” he said.

Actually, Phillips had his tense wrong. Before Saturday, stuff like that didn’t happen. During six straight wins to open Big 12 play, the No. 23 Longhorns caught nearly every break, benefited from almost every bounce and survived more than their fair share of close calls.

But in suffering their most lopsided home loss in 16 years under Mack Brown, their penchant for living dangerously caught up to them. Phillips jumped a route and whiffed on an interception. Case McCoy kept making risky throws and finally had them picked off. And Brown – who’d spent two months dodging disaster and quieting speculation about his future – opened himself up to the same old questions all over again.

UT (7-3, 6-1 Big 12) played terribly on special teams, committed three turnovers on offense and reverted to its September inability to stop the run on defense. Not even the Longhorns’ history of comebacks – both this season and historically against OSU – could help them.

“It seemed like every time we got something going, we killed ourselves,” Brown said.

Momentum changer

The most fatal stretch came in the final 1:15 of the first half. Leading by only four points, OSU (9-1, 6-1) had the ball deep in UT territory when Clint Chelf fired a pass into the corner of the end zone. Phillips stepped in front of Moore and appeared to catch the ball, but it went through his fingers and into Moore’s hands.

After UT received the kickoff, McCoy made an ill-advised throw to Kendall Sanders down the right sideline, allowing OSU’s Justin Gilbert to make an easy interception and return it 43 yards for a game-breaking touchdown.

McCoy, who threw two more interceptions in the second half, took the blame for UT’s defeat, saying, “It’s on me.”

“I was forcing things,” McCoy said. “There’s no doubt about it.”

But there was plenty of fault to go around. UT’s defense, which had been solid throughout its winning streak, allowed Chelf to run for 95 yards, pass for 197 more and account for three touchdowns.

The Longhorns’ coverage and return units were abysmal, committing offenses ranging from muffed punts to roughing penalties that led to UT starting six drives inside its own 20 and none beyond its own 33.

Still, Brown insisted after the game that he isn’t worried about his team falling apart. He told players they’re still in position to win the Big 12 if they beat Texas Tech and Baylor to end the season (provided OSU suffers a loss).

“You can’t get your head down,” Brown said. “You can’t lay down and quit. You’ve got to go back to work.”